Alone in the Light

By: Benjamin W. Bass

Narrated by: Phil Thron, Natalie Naudus

Two years and 6,000 miles away from the explosion that took his leg, Josh Carpenter struggles to reclaim his former life as a college student.

Mary Fischer, a civilian for the first time in years, strikes out on her own to create a new, independent life away from the army and her controlling mother.

The last time Josh saw Mary, his National Guard unit was leaving Kuwait, headed north to the war. The last time Mary saw Josh, she watched as his unconscious body was rolled onto a plane bound for a hospital in Germany.

As they navigate their new lives, Josh and Mary come ever closer to a reunion that has the potential to heal the traumas of war...or compound them.

"The first thing that grabs the reader is the use of two first-person narrators, which allows us to see and feel opposing perspectives of the story. These narrators are equally strong and emerge as equally developed characters. Yet the narrator voices are distinct and believable with one male and one female. They are so believable we must remind ourselves this is fiction. Through the male narrator Josh, the author allows us to experience his PTSD without frill or melodrama. It’s not pretty, it’s sometimes brutal, but it’s real and alive in our face. Through the female narrator Mary, we experience the impact of Josh’s new reality on others. It’s also not pretty, but it’s so human that we relate and cry and get mad and become irritated just as Mary does.

"Supporting characters are well done also: Josh’s brother Bill who loves in spite of Josh’s spite, the fragility of friend Tim, the quirkiness of temporary girlfriend Carrie, the coldness of the moms, the warmth of Mary’s dad, the inhumanity of Adam the dick and even the concern of Charlotte the art teacher. Every character in the story brings depth to the story and adds a different perspective, adds complexity.

"The next thing that grabs us are the worlds colliding. The author starts with how the world changes for Josh and Mary after Josh loses his leg. Then we see how the world changes for people after seeing combat and how their former worlds back home do not. We see how the military world, especially that of a wounded vet, careens into the civilian world of holiday dinners and parties. We come to live in the internal worlds of Josh and Mary as they struggle to make sense of what is and is not happening. This collision of worlds is perfectly accentuated by the shifting back and forth between the voices of two narrators, the time of both past and present, and the locations of Indiana and Iraq. Sometimes this shifting is confusing. The author uses subheadings to help us keep track of who is talking and where we are.

"The craft of the story is subtle, simple beauty. The Prologue is sheer poetry with its details of the mundane, to the horror of getting blown up, to the emergence of a new world: 'I open my mouth and it is filled with the saltwater tang of the blackness flooding me. I feel like I am drowning. I fear I am dead. There is a light. It is everywhere. It is all around me. I am alone.' This imagery of light emerges throughout in different contexts.

"The writing remains honest, straightforward, and fluid - no straining after metaphors, no overwriting. This might be one of the best books about a post-traumatic reaction. It's a powerful story, compelling, wrenching, and finally uplifting." (Gail Summers, Military Writers Society of America (MWSA))

©2019 Benjamin W. Bass (P)2023 Benjamin W. Bass

Exceptional insight into PTSD recovery

It’s easy to see why this book has received positive Amazon reviews from noted authors and earned the Military Writers Society of America gold medal in 2020. It’s a remarkable look at PTSD, masterfully and seamlessly told from two perspectives and two parallel timelines. It’s moving and deeply authentic, and Phil Thron and Natalie Naudus do their usual excellent work bringing the narration to life in Audible format. Highly recommended!

Great story

Really enjoyed listening to this story. I appreciated the emotion with which the part of "Mary" was read. I also appreciated the change in tone by the narrators indicating the time frame of the scene.

Deeply Moving Personal Experience

Alone In The Light is much more than a book or a story...it is a deeply moving, personal experience from which you must recover.

I finished reading/listening to Alone in The Light a few months ago. It has taken me quite a while to get to a place where I could write about the book. First let me say, Benjamin Bass has written an astounding debut novel. On the surface, this is a story about men and women in the National Guard. They have been called to serve in the war in Iraq. As we all know, "war is hell."

After suffering an injury, Josh appears to no longer have any interest in Mary. Yet, she continues to care about him. Mary can see the change in Josh. Mary goes through her own private hell as she watches the man she loves sink deeper and deeper into depression. Josh has become an angry man. Mary fears the man she cares so much about, might be gone forever.

Author, Benjamin W. Bass brings his readers complex characters of depth. Readers grieve right along with Mary. We wonder what is happening to the Josh we were introduced to in the beginning of Alone In the Light. But here and there we may see signs that Josh may not yet be completely broken. Somehow, through it all, Josh continues to care about his comrades. But he soon learns he his not the only one who returned mentally broken. We see Josh do what he can to rescue a friend. But try as he may, Josh is not mentally strong enough to save anyone, not even himself. PTSD is now what is controlling Josh.

Benjamin Bass expertly depicts Josh's downward spiral. Our hearts break right along with Mary's. We watch helplessly as Josh suffers both inwardly and outwardly. We wonder if Josh will ever be able to rescue himself back to the happy, friendly man he once was. Bass has created authentic characters with the power to pull readers relentlessly into Alone In The Light. If you read one debut novel this year, or if you just read just one novel this year, let it be Alone In The Light.

Loved it!

Read the book. Loved it! Listened to it. Loved it! I would love to read/listen more from this author.

Captivating

I have never cared more for a protagonist than I did Josh in Benjamin W. Bass's Alone in the Light. This one surprised me since it is not my normal genre; however, Bass created a character that could not be denied. The reading is one of the best I have heard this year.

Beautifully insightful

Definitely a story that falls outside of my normal choice.
Honestly, I selected this title more for my enjoyment of the narrators than my desire to immerse myself in the subject matter.
I'm so glad I did!
Out of close to 900 Audible books, I've written maybe a dozen reviews.
These characters are so well written. Their emotions and occasionally the absence of emotion becomes a visceral experience. All without beating you over the head with any mandate of how to feel. This is an easy subject to follow into darkness and despair. The author did a brilliant job of expressing this reality without pushing you into the gloom of depression.
I found myself wondering if the author wasn't telling his own story.

Great work from a talented self-published author!

I loved and hated this book. I loved this book because it's well written and well read (the audiobook is fantastic!); I hated it because it hurts. We all know a Josh, Tim, Mary and Todd.
Alone In The Light is a real life look into the war in Iraq, the day to day lives of the men and women serving in the armed forces and the aftermath of their experiences once they are back to civilian life. I don't normally enjoy timelines that jump around but this indie author (and the narrators) really bounce back and forth with ease and transparency, making the stories blend flawlessly.
My basic rating system; (every story starts a five star and then I deduct for the following-but this story is great and I didn't deduct any starts)
POV-this story is told from the POV of both Josh and Mary. It's easy to tell whose head you're in because the narrators. Benjamin Bass does a great job of writing both masculine and feminine characters.
Realistic Dialogue-I love the cantor, humor and relatability of this author. The dialogue is realistic and flows.
Predictability-Because this book is based on real life and real life can be brutal I wasn't 100% sure how it was going to come together. The author does a great job bringing the story lines together and wrapping the ending up where the reader isn't still sobbing and has hope for humanity.

This Book!

Cannot express in a review how the writing style of the author lends to both a physical book and this audio edition.
The story isn’t one that we should have to experience, but one EVERYBODY needs to. Not ever being in the military, the author gives those who have the pleasure to listen to this book insight into an epidemic that doesn’t have enough resources supporting it: our military.

Thanks for your service and to those who have served.

If you know a veteran of our armed forces, please support them.

A rich emotional ride

This book takes you into the lives of those who have suffered and lost way too much in the early years of their budding adulthood. I liked how the story alternated between "before" in times of hope and "after" when despair was thick and life- choking. Both narrators, Phil Thron and Natalie Naudus, were just incredible storytellers. They portrayed the pain, the loneliness, the humor, and the love of the two main characters as well as the very defined personalities of the secondary cast. When an audiobook is so good that you have to sit in your car in the grocery store parking lot or your own driveway to finish a chapter, you know it's superbly written and narrated. This audiobook is one of THOSE!

A must-read for those impacted by tragic loss

This book gives you the depth of impact on the recovery from tragedy. The main characters' depth of love, loss of self, and hope in each other make this story a must read for those impacted by tragic loss.